I've logged a lot of films recently, and I've been having a blast. It's great to get caught up on some movies I have been missing. Sadly, no trips to the cinema. What has happened to me? Am I destined for home video hell? On with the madness....
THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
Based on the legendary Chinese tale of the Monkey King, this movie reminded me of Ronnie Yu's attempt at U.S. kung-foolery called Warriors of Virtue. Like that movie this one is aimed more or less at kids, but its at least fun and stars two of the biggest kung-fu stars of all time, the great Jackie Chan and the great Jet Li. Anyone that knows me really well, knows I am (or used to be) a Hong Kong movie expert. At one time in my younger days I had a massive collection of Asian films. Well in 97, lots of things changed, I got a job and Hong Kong was handed from the Brits back over to the Commies. And pirating of movies became rampant. The former two things really took the local HK film biz into a tailspin. Quality suffered and most of the big stars like Jet, Jackie, and directors like Woo and Yu moved over here to make bad versions of their HK work.
Back in the 90's a Jackie vs. Jet movie was oft rumored to be happening, but behind the scenes it was known that the two did really care for each other. In fact Jet made a movie about a Jackie Chan type actor who was know for doing his own stunts but never actually did them. And the director of that film was Wong Jing who made City Hunter with Chan and didn't get along with JC. So suffice to say they were not exactly on good terms... Flash forward about 15 years later and we have a Monkey King movie directed by a round eye, Rob Minkoff.
Honestly, I enjoyed the film as light as it was. But in all honesty its for kids, and its not the crazy ass Jackie vs. Jet movie I dreamed about. The fight scenes between the two is really fun though, and it is very cool to see Jackie's Drunken boxing style vs. Jet's Wushu style. And unlike most US/HK crossovers, its a long fight. So its more than a tease, its a good long fight that will satisfy most people. And to be a reverse racist here, the worst element of the movie is the white kid, whose eyes the story is told. The story is basic, kid finds ancient monkey king staff and is transported back in time to become a kung-fu master in a few days while Jackie and jet fight/team up in the end to fight some bad guys.
Now the other big problem I had with this movie was this: DO NOT F WITH "The Bride With White Hair" EVER. One of the bad guys or chicks I should say is a total ripoff of the Bridget Lin from Bride with Hair movie. One of my favorite HK films of all time. Its a great character, but it does not fit here and comes off as a fanboy dream gone horribly wrong. We know The Bride is a cool movie don't disrespect it like that. Change the hair color at least!
I think this film is fun for two main reasons: Jackie and Jet. Both play dual roles int he movie. Jackie plays a 100 year old man that rents kung-fu movies, and Jet gets to play the Monkey King. I think Jet's Monkey King was pretty good. So it's worth the view if you like those guys, just don't think you're getting Fist of Legend or Drunken Master II or anything.
INTO THE WILD
A really great film, that I assume like the book (which my wife has read) makes you think about whats it all about. Life in society that is. Into the Wild is about a kid, Chris from a somewhat broken home that decides after college he will ditch all material things and just walk/hitchhike his way to Alaska. Played by Emile Hirsch, his goal is to live off the land as much as he can. He may take a small job here or there, but just enough to get him to the next point on his journey. It would seem that he is rebelling against his parents most of the time, but I would have liked the film to have touched more on his relationship with his parents. The idea of his journey that Chris has is understood. Everyone at some point in their life may want to just drop out of society and get as far away from the modern world as possible, but here the reasons are very vague and somewhat stereotypical. (in a movie world that is) Having said that this movie is about the journey and maybe director Sean Penn wanted us to fill in those holes ourselves as we ride along with him.
Along the way Chris meets Kathleen Keener who acts as a sort of a Mom away from home to him. He also gets a job on a farm working for Vince Vaughn and meets an older man, Hal Holbrook who lost his son and sees Chris as a temporary substitute. Based on a true story, I found a lot about Chris I saw in myself, and I think anyone watching it will, but Chris acted on it, and didn't look back. He's like a runaway that ran away after he finished college. I won't spoil the end of the movie, but its handled really well and what I liked about the movie more than anything it doesn't try to preach down to you. It presents things as they are, and its up to you to make those judgements about Chris. The Eddie Veder soundtrack can grate on you after a while, but other than that, highly recommended viewing.
SPEED RACER
I told Amy this, this morning about my review of this so called "film". Now technically speaking aside, If you took a shit on a shit, you would produce something greater than the live action Speed Racer movie film... Nothing more to say on that. However, technically speaking it looks awesome. So, to sum up its like looking in a toilet after you took a shit and saying wow, that's a nice looking piece of shit.
EXILED
I love Johnny To movies. He has made so many great ones over the years and is probably the best HK director working today. Maybe because he stayed put while everyone else moved to the US after 97. I dunno. But he continues to crank out great comedies and gangster movies year after year. I recently saw his Election dualigy, which was really good. Here a gang of 5 childhood friends who are all gangsters in rival gangs show up for a reunion of sorts. However one of the men has a hit on him by a big gang boss. Two of the guys are there to kill him, and the other two are there to protect him. After a crazy opening gun battle they all agree to work together to save their fellow brother who now has a wife and small baby depending on him. Anthony Wong is the main star while the greatness of Simon Yam shows up as the Big Boss wanting the job done. Fantastic drama mixed with ever greater choreographed gun battles. To is still on top of his game. His newer gangster films have found this rhythm of silence and sudden out bursts of violence that really get to you. It's a return to 90's Hong Kong gangster classics!
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